The Godfather
by xxPurpleHazexx
Summary: How would Harry's upbringing been different, had he been brought up by Sirius Black? Sirius is released from Azkaban and goes to the Dursley's to retrieve Harry. No one can predict what unfolds, not even Dumbledore. R&R!
1. Prologue: Lightning Scar

The night was silent in the aftermath of the shocking ordeal that night in Godric's Hollow.

Sirius cried shamelessly, tears running down his face, surveying the world with a new kind of perspective now that Lily and James were gone.

Were there more clouds, now that his best friend was gone? Were the stars less bright, and more subdued, now that little Harry Potter was an orphan? Was everything darker, now that the world was less two great human beings?

Sirius wandered through the ruins of their house, picking up fragments of china he'd eaten off of a thousand times, photographs he'd taken, or ones he was in, and bits of furniture he'd lounged on a hundred million days.

A tall wide giant with a bushy beard picked his way through the rubble and laid a hand on skinny young sad Sirius Black's shoulder in a show of his empathy.

'Hagrid,' Sirius said dully, not even slightly embarrassed about his sniffling and sobbing.

Hagrid shuffled around the rubble toward the young man, his beetle eyes crinkled up, his lips pursed for fear he might start wailing in the street. In his arms he held a little bundle of warmth.

Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived.

Sirius surveyed his godson, his eyes shining with adoration. He didn't know much about babies, but as far as babies went, he thought this one was pretty awesome. 'Hi, Harry,' he said quietly. 'I don't know about you, but the last time I saw you, I didn't think we'd meet again like this.'

Harry looked up at him dolefully, his baby eyes seeming to understand too much.

Sirius who was wiping his eyes on the back of his hand, cursed himself. Voldemort was gone! He should be happy! In the long run, two more people lost shouldn't be such a big deal.

But on the other hand, Sirius could not be convinced. Lily and James were gone. Gone. Because they were so close, it seemed like a monumental loss, and Sirius couldn't find the balance between celebratory and grieving.

Sirius reached out with a shaking hand and stroked the scar on the child's forehead.


	2. Chp 1: Motorbikes and Salad Sandwiches

**A/N: Full summary, as promised: How would Harry's life have been different if Sirius raised him? Find out here. Sirius is released from Azkaban as Peter is caught. He goes to collect Harry from the Dursley's with Dumbledore. How would the events that follow be different than the actual novels? A story about Harry growing up under the watchful, yet slightly indulgent eye of Sirius Black.**

**Chapter One: Flying Motorbikes and Salad Sandwiches.**

Sirius sat rocking in his cell in Azkaban, sure that today was the day, today was the day he would finally go insane and die or something as equally as horrible.

He pressed his fingers in his ears, sure that his father and mother were standing over him, shouting about their pureblood nonsense.

'Sirius!'

'No,' He groaned. 'No, no…'

'Sirius!' This time the loud call meant something else. He relived the scene in his mind. James and Lily: dead for hours, the house in ruins, searching frantically for any sign of life, the baby, Harry Potter, taken from his grasp, falling into an icy cold blackness as the Dementors swarmed him. Hagrid, yelling out, taking his flying motorbike, the baby wrapped in his arms, and being shoved into a dank damp cell, left to relive the worst night of his life all over again.

He whimpered, the vision over, the aftershocks ebbing through his mind. 'Sirius Black!' The voice sounded old, familiar.

He opened his eyes a crack hesitantly and saw Albus Dumbledore before him, holding a key ring full of old fashioned brass keys.

'Hello, Sirius,' said Dumbledore gently, reaching out to pull him to his feet.

Sirius swayed unsteadily, leaning up against the wall. 'Professor,' he rasped in greeting.

Dumbledore jangled the key in the lock, and the joyous sound almost made Sirius pant in celebration.

'Now, Sirius,' Dumbledore said. 'I'll explain in full later, but basically you're released and Pet…'

All sound faded away as Sirius fainted from shock, and standing on his feet too long. Azkaban had taken its toll.

***

Sirius woke with a start. He'd had the weirdest dream. He'd dreamt that Dumbledore had come and he'd been released from Azkaban.

He opened his eyes to a blindingly bright room. He supposed he must have still been dreaming. He wasn't sure where he was, but it sure wasn't Azkaban.

It was in fact, Madam Pomfrey's house. She'd always had a soft spot for Sirius Black, as had many others of the staff, no matter how much of a troublemaker he was, and when she had heard he was being released from Azkaban had insisted he come to her home, for he would be, "too fragile for a hospital environment."

Albus and Madam Pomfrey fussed over him as he recovered, though the first question he asked every day was, 'How's Harry? Can we go get him now?'

Dumbledore, who would always have been sitting by his bedside for hours, would roll up his newspaper, smile gently and say, 'Not yet, Sirius. You must recover.'

This day was no exception. Though after the usual round of questions and answers, Sirius became more urgent. 'Really, Dumbledore,' He said urgently. 'Those Muggles are horrible. Lily told me stories about them that would…'

'Alright, Sirius.' Dumbledore said gently. 'When you are ready. When you're ready, we'll go get him.'

'I'm ready!' Sirius told him, infuriated that Dumbledore was keeping things from him and restricting him from doing things, just like he was a pesky child.

'Not yet, Sirius, not yet,' Dumbledore said, infuriatingly calm and wise.

***

The next morning, Sirius woke early. So early it was dark, and Dumbledore had not arrived yet. He crept out of bed silently, hoping not to wake Madam Pomfrey, who, from years of working in the Hospital Wing, had a sharp ear for wandering patients.

He looked through the drawers, and grabbed a blue shirt, rummaging through for pants. They were nowhere to be found.

'Really funny, Dumbledore,' He muttered, irritated.

He stole into the bathroom and got dressed, with what items of clothing he had with him.

When he emerged it was light, and Dumbledore was sitting in his usual chair. He held out his arms, as if to show off his ensemble. A blue shirt, and black and navy blue plaid boxers, and no pants.

'Funny, Professor,' He said sarcastically. 'Really hilarious.'

'Ah,' Dumbledore put down his paper, and peered over the top of his half moon spectacles. 'I expected we'd run into something like this. I took the liberty of…'

'Hiding my pants,' Sirius cut in after the silence stretched out, no need to sugar coat anything.

'Well, yes,' Dumbledore said, amusement contained in his voice. 'No matter,' he continued. 'You'd better get dressed. The Dursley's are expecting us.'

Sirius pushed down his excitement and nervousness to say, as politely as he could manage, 'Professor, you…'

'In the drawer,' Dumbledore pointed and the draw slid open and a pair of pants flew at Sirius.

He caught them and stomped into the bathroom, hiding his nervousness with bravado.

***

Sirius took a deep breath and shook his head, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling of having a tightening metal band around his head after Apparating to Little Whinging, more precisely, the end of Harry's street.

He and Dumbledore continued down the way, stopping at Number 4 Privet Drive. He steadied himself, gave a weak smile in Dumbledore's direction and continued up the drive.

He banged on the small nondescript knocker, and considered running away, and pretending it was a pesky child joking around, but Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder and said reassuringly, 'I sent them a letter. It'll be fine.'

Fro inside there was muffled shouting. 'Boy! Boy! Get the door, boy!'

A small boy opened the door for them. He was tiny, dressed in a large flannel shirt and baggy worn pants that were rolled up at the cuffs. The boy had a sweet innocent face, and his glasses were set askew on his face, Sellotaped together. 'Hi,' he said in a polite tone. 'I'm Harry.' He continued in a cheerful voice.

He looked to be about three or four years old. 'Your beard's long,' He observed, pulling the end of Dumbledore's beard, which was tucked into his belt.

'It is,' said Dumbledore, laughing. 'May we come in, Harry?'

'I suppose,' said Harry uncertainly. 'Who are you?'

'I am Dumbledore,' he said. 'And this is…

'Boy!' a voice called angrily. 'Boy! Who's at the door?'

'Dumbledore's here!' Harry shouted, tripping off down the hall and motioning for them to do the same. 'He's got a beard too! It's long! And there's another man too…but he doesn't have a beard! Or a name.' Harry finished, as he stepped into the kitchen.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley were standing in their kitchen, with pursed lips and uptight expressions. 'Why, hello!' said Dumbledore pleasantly. 'I trust you received my letter.'

'We did,' She hissed. 'Take him, take the boy! And then get out of my house, you horrible abnormalities!'

Harry bent his head, looking rather forlorn, and Sirius felt horrible all of a sudden. How could these people be so cruel to him?

Sirius bent down to eye level with Harry. 'Hi, Harry,' he said softly. 'I'm Sirius Black.'

'Hello, sir.' He said respectfully.

'Just Sirius,' he told him. 'I was a friend of your mum and dad's.'

'Hi Sirius, a friend of my mum and dad's.' he greeted.

Petunia was arguing with Dumbledore, but Harry stood with Sirius. 'I'm your godfather, Harry.'

'I'd be glad, if I knew what that was,' Harry told him seriously.

'It means, if anything ever happened to your parents, I would look after you.' Sirius told him, feeling sentimental. 'I've been…otherwise occupied –' after all, how was a child supposed to understand being wrongly imprisoned and then released again. '- I'm back now, and would like to keep my promise to your dad. Would you like to came and live with me?'

The boy stared at him, his eyes wide beneath his glasses. Sirius hurried to say, 'I'll understand if you don't want to leave your aunt and uncle…' though he couldn't really. These people were awful.

'Are you joking?' Harry asked in an absurdly grown up voice. 'Maybe if I live with you my glasses wont get broken all the time. Dudley sits on them sometimes,' he told Sirius confidentially. 'While they're on my face.'

Sirius was appalled.

'You seem nice,' he continued cheerily. 'And you were a friend of my mum and dad's. Uncle and Auntie weren't. Uncle said dad was a drunk, and Auntie said my mother was a freak.'

Sirius felt angry and tears threatened to escape his grey eyes. 'Well, your mother Lily wasn't a freak, and your father, James was not a drunk.'

'I believe you,' Harry said sincerely, his eyes behind his glasses looking wiser than his five years.

Sirius stood up. 'Should we go get your things then?' He asked.

Harry led him out into the hall and Sirius went to the bottom of the stairs while Harry hung back, by a cupboard door. 'Is your room upstairs?' Sirius asked, friendly.

'Gosh, no!' said Harry surprisedly. 'I'm not even allowed up there.' He opened the door to the cupboard under the stairs and gestured to it proudly. 'This is my room.'

Sirius felt like he was choking. They made him sleep in a cupboard? What were these people?

Sirius stalked down the hall to the kitchen and banged open the door. Harry trailed off his voice quietening. 'Don't you want to see my…?'

In the kitchen Sirius boiled over with raw anger. 'Excuse me, Albus,' He said politely before launching into a tirade. 'This is abuse, you know! He's wearing clothes miles too big for him, his glasses are broken because your pig of a son sat on them, _while they were still on Harry's face!'_

Dumbledore looked shocked and Vernon opened his mouth to say something, but Sirius carried on. 'He sleeps in a cupboard, for crying out loud! The boy has never known love! He'll be emotionally scarred! And you,' here he waved his finger at the Muggle couple warningly. 'Lily and James Potter were not freaks and they were not drunks!' Sirius took a deep shaking breath. 'How dare you?'

He banged through the kitchen door once more, regaining control of himself enough to say, 'Harry! Sorry, mate, do you need me to help you pack anything?'

Harry lifted a battered blue rucksack off the ground. It was not very full at all. Sirius knelt in front of him. 'Can I have a look?'

'Okay,'

Harry handed him the bag and Sirius looked through. 'I'll tell you what,' he said. 'I think Professor Dumbledore in there may have done a little shopping, so we have some clothes that will fit you.'

Harry nodded and took out some shirts and pants. Now all that was left was a tiny baby outfit and a drawing, albeit a very wonky drawing in faded black pen.

Sirius squinted, and so as not to hurt the boy's feelings, he lied, 'my eyes aren't so good. Can you tell me what this is?'

'It's okay,' Harry sighed. 'I know it's bad. I just didn't want to forget.'

Sirius laughed softly. 'What didn't you want to forget?'

'The dream,' Harry told him. 'I had a dream about a flying motorbike. And not only was there a flying motorbike, but I met a giant. It was strange.' Harry seemed about to say something else, but he didn't. He had the strange feeling the man, Sirius, had been in the dream as well, but he didn't want Sirius to think he was crazy. After all, this was his only chance to get away from the Dursley's.

Sirius felt the familiar tightening in his chest at the mention of that night. For that was what it was of course. A recollection of the night that Harry survived meeting You-Know-Who. 'Ah,' Sirius said lightly, trying to regain his composure. 'Was it fast?'

'You're different to other grown ups,' Harry observed intelligently. 'I said that to Uncle and he yelled at me about how flying motorbikes aren't real. You just want to know whether it went fast. It did.'

'I like motorbikes,' Sirius said, laughing.

'Okay,' Harry jammed his glasses back onto his face and Sirius held out a hand.

'Can I fix those for you?' Sirius asked gently.

'If you can,' Harry said doubtfully.

Harry's eyes were pretty fuzzy, but it looked like Sirius pulled out a brown stick, said '_Reparo,_' and then handed Harry's glasses back to him, mended.

He put them back on in time to see Sirius slide the wand into his pocket. 'Was that…?' he trailed off in awe.

'A wand,' Sirius said casually. 'I'll let Dumbledore explain all that to you, though.'

'Okay,' Harry said again, dubious.

Dumbledore walked through the hallway, a smile on his face. In his wake, he left two very frightened Muggles behind. 'Harry,' he said. 'Shall we go?'

'Yes,' said Harry, quite excitedly.

'Would you like to say goodbye to your cousin?' Dumbledore said.

A fat, pink boy stumbled down the stairs at that moment. 'Bye, Potter,' He said meanly.

'Bye Dudley,' Harry said quietly, looking down at his scuffed shoes.

Dumbledore leant through the kitchen door. 'We're leaving now.'

'Good riddance,' Vernon snarled, his courage returning.

'Wont you say goodbye to Harry?' Sirius said.

'Just take him,' Petunia hissed angrily again. Harry, waiting out in the hallway, looked small and alone, the tips of his ears were red and Sirius had no doubt in the entire universe that he had heard what this vile woman had said.

'I will,' Sirius said, his black shoulder length hair falling in his sad grey eyes as he approached. 'He'll be happier with me than he ever was with you and your ignorant Muggle beliefs.'

Petunia stepped back frightened, eyeing the wand in his pocket. Vernon stepped in front of her, but Sirius brushed his hair back and stalked out of the kitchen.

'C'mon Harry,' He said cheerily. 'Let's wait outside for Professor Dumbledore.'

The stood outside in companionable silence as they waited for Dumbledore. Dumbledore strolled out a few moments later, raising a thin grey eyebrow at Sirius. He shrugged. 'Maternal instinct, I s'pose,' Sirius joked, his hand on Harry's shoulder.

'Very well,' Dumbledore held out his arm to Harry, who took it hesitantly. Sirius then took Harry's arm and they made a strange sight before they disappeared with a small _pop._

They appeared in Grimmauld Place, a small square near London. Dumbledore and Sirius turned to watch Harry as he recovered from the shock of Apparating. He leaned over the gutter, looking slightly green.

'Are you alright, Harry, m'boy?' Dumbledore called, clapping him on the back and standing him up straight.

'Fine,' Harry gasped as he was wrenched upwards and then the nausea vanished quickly afterwards. 'What did I just do?'

'You Apparated,' Sirius said sympathetically, leading him over to a set of steps leading to a house. 'We'll explain when we're inside.'

'Okay,' Harry said, slightly overwhelmed.

He led Harry inside and down another set of steps, into a warm, large if slightly dusty kitchen. Sirius sat him down at the table and Dumbledore sat down opposite him.

'We're wizards, Harry.' He said.

'Wizards?' Harry said, astonished. 'Magical?'

'Yes,' said Dumbledore kindly. He pulled out a stick, this one a little longer than Sirius' and said, 'This is my wand.'

'Wow,' Harry said. 'Can I hold it?'

'Be careful,' Sirius added as Dumbledore handed it over.

Harry took it gingerly, and waved it a little. A red spark shot out the end, heading straight for Sirius. Thankfully he ducked in time, though a jar next to the sink cracked and fell in.

Harry gasped and put it down on the table. 'Sorry, sir!' He said, his back ramrod straight, his face scared.

Sirius began to get an inkling of how it had been with the Dursley's. 'It's fine, Harry.' He told him, leaning against the sink and whispering a spell to fix the broken jar.

Dumbledore took his wand off the table, and smiled gently. 'It's alright, Harry.'

'I broke a jar.' Harry said, as if it were the end of the world. 'I'll never be able to be a wizard like you.'

'You will,' Dumbledore assured him. 'Because this is my wand it got confused when you held it. You'll eventually have your own wand, which will obey only you.'

'Okay,' Harry said again, doubtfully this time. 'And Ap-Apparating?'

'A quick way for wizard's to get around, although some prefer brooms even though they're slower.'

'What do you say, Harry?' Sirius asked, 'Shall we go see your room?'

Dumbledore stood. 'Well, I'll go Harry.' He said pleasantly. 'I hope we meet again.'

'Thank you Professor, it was nice meeting you,' Harry said, respectfully shaking Dumbledore's hand.

'Goodbye, Sirius,' Dumbledore said kindly. 'I took the liberty of moving your things from Poppy's place to your room here.'

'Thanks,' said Sirius gratefully.

He stood with a hand on Harry's shoulder, the picture of fatherly love, watching as Dumbledore disappeared with a small _pop._

'Shall we go and see your new room, Harry?' Sirius offered jovially.

'Okay,' Harry said quietly. He felt odd, like when you're invited over to play at someone's house that you don't know very well. Not that Harry had ever been invited anywhere, and if he had been, the Dursley's would never have driven him anywhere.

'Come on,' Sirius said, leading the shy boy up the stairs.

Sirius took a left, and opened the door of Regulus Black's old room. House elves had been in to clean up while he had been recovering. His mother's portrait had been removed; very strong house elf magic had been needed to do that, and the house had been redecorated to be warmer and more inviting. Unfortunately, Kreacher was still there, though he didn't do much cleaning, merely sobbed in his cupboard under the sink, begging for his mistress.

The room had been cleared of all the old things, now stored up in the attic, and the room was painted off white, a single bed in the middle, with a blue bedspread. There was an empty bookcase on one wall, white to match the wall and the chest of drawers at the end, and beside the bed.

'Wow,' Harry breathed. 'This room is huge!'

'I'm glad you like it,' Sirius laughed. Then he felt nervous again, like he was a little child as well. 'The bookcase is empty. We, uh, thought you might want to choose some for yourself. We can go tomorrow, if you'd like.'

'Yeah,' said Harry, who was walking around the room hesitantly as if worried he would ruin something.

'It's all yours,' Sirius told him. 'Knock yourself out.' He wasn't sure if that was the greatest parenting technique ever, but the kid deserved a little fun.

Harry placed his grubby rucksack on the white dresser and emptied the contents into the empty top drawer.

'Oh, yeah!' Sirius remembered. He opened the doors to the cupboard and Harry stared in awe. 'Dumbledore got them for you. He helped with redecorating the house too.'

Harry nodded, too shocked too say anything. In the cupboard were clothes. Heaps of them. Harry had only ever had two pairs of pants and three shirts, and he'd never had them first, Dudley had always worn them first and stretched them out. Not to mention Dudley was quite a lot bigger than Harry anyway.

'Well,' Sirius said lightly. 'My room is across the hall if you ever need anything. I'm going to go down and make us some sandwiches for lunch.'

'I'll help,' Harry volunteered.

'You don't have to,' Sirius told him kindly, 'you can stay up here if you want to.'

'I'd like to help,' Harry said softly.

'Okay,' he let Harry through the door first. 'Let's go.'

In truth, Harry was slightly nervous of having Sirius out of his sight, even for a few moments. He was worried it could all be snatched away from him, this big room, this amazing house, and this man who could tell him about his father and mother, would all be taken away and he'd end up back in his cupboard, Sellotape holding his glasses together.

Down in the kitchen, Harry washed lettuce, standing on a chair at the sink, his pudgy hands red from the cold water.

Sirius observed them, amused. He had no idea how it happened, because he'd certainly never had children himself, but no matter how skinny children were, and Harry was pretty skinny, they _always_, without fail, managed to have pudgy hands.

Harry gave him the lettuce, and they assembled ham, tomato and lettuce sandwiches, along with a glass of milk for each of them.

They sat in silence at the island bench on stools and through a mouthful of food, Harry observed intelligently, 'This could be fun.'

**A/N: Okay, darlings, how was it?**

**Do we understand all of this?**

**-Harry is worried Sirius will desert him. Not because Sirius emanates an, "I will desert you," vibe, simply because Harry has never known an adult he could trust.**

**-Does Sirius seem slightly nervous? Not his usual self? Because of Harry. He's worried about doing the right thing by Harry and by his dead friends. He's just nervous about the whole parenting thing. He'll get through it. I promise.**

**I think that's it. Drop me a review on your way out!**

**Much love,**

**Remus'MarauderPrincess. (Indigo)**


	3. Chp 2: Sapphire Rowan and the Bad Man

**A/N: Hi everyone! We are putting this chapter up early, because we have a friend's 16****th**** this weekend! Hang on, Josh wants to say something. (My twin.)**

Hi everybody, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm Indigo's beta and thought it was only fair that I should get to say something. TEAM HERMIONE! Ahem. Enjoy.

**Chapter Two: Sapphire Rose Rowan and the Very Bad Man.**

The next morning, Sirius padded downstairs only to find Harry waiting already. Harry was dressed smartly, in a neatly pressed shirt, and pants. His mended glasses looked clean, and overall he looked the picture of a happy healthy five year old boy. He jumped off the stool he had been sitting on, and ran to Sirius' side.

Except for his face. It was downcast, rather gloomy and his mouth was turned down at the corners.

'I was having fun,' Harry informed Sirius. 'I had a glass of water, and was waiting here for you. But then this thing came in here. It had big ears and it started calling me names.'

'Kreacher,' Sirius said under his breath.

'A wha-?' Harry said, his face comically questioning.

'My house elf,' Sirius explained. 'I'd show you, but I'm having a good morning, and I'd rather I didn't have to see him.'

Sirius went to the pantry. 'Did you have breakfast?'

Harry shook his head no. 'At my cousin's I'm not allowed in the kitchen cupboards, and Dudley always gets more than me.'

Sirius was once again appalled at these Muggle's treatment of Harry. 'Well,' he told him firmly, 'you're allowed to eat from these cupboards when you like. Cereal's in here.'

He gestured to the pantry and then brought out a box of Rice Bubbles. 'Yum,' Harry said. 'Not that I've ever had any. I just get muesli.'

'D'you want some?' Sirius asked.

'Please.'

They sat in silence, only punctuated by occasional snap, crackle or pop. Sirius cleared his throat. 'So, do you want to go to Diagon Alley today?'

'Okay,' Harry agreed, his eyes shining beneath his glasses.

'I need a new wand.' Sirius told him. 'I've been borrowing this one.'

'You can buy wands in this – Diagon Alley?'

'Yes,' Sirius replied, 'as well as anything else your everyday witch or wizard desires.'

'Oh.'

They cleared away the morning's dishes, and set off down the steps, Harry holding tightly on to Sirius' hand.

'Alright,' Sirius said, his face already faintly green. 'Hold tight to my arm.'

'Okay,' Harry gulped, and pushed down his reluctance.

His lungs squished in, the air being sucked from them, that band about his head tightened, and then…they were standing outside a drab, dank, dirty nondescript old pub.

Harry was breathing heavily, and Sirius was massaging his long fingers against his temples. 'Okay,' Sirius breathed, still recovering. It had been awhile since he'd Apparated anywhere.

'Now, Harry,' Sirius said seriously. 'Hold tightly to my hand, and don't go wandering off.'

'Yes, sir.' Harry said, looking like a mini military sergeant.

'Sirius,' Sirius corrected gently.

They pushed open the door to the pub and Harry looked about. It was dark and smoky, and everything had a coating of dust. So what on earth were they doing in here?

Whispers met them as they stepped into the dim light.

'That's Sirius Black-'

'He hadn't really murdered those people, that was Peter Pettigrew…'

'Yes, I heard the only way they could solve that case was with copious amounts of…'

'Veritaserum, yes, I heard that too.'

'Who's that with him?'

'Oh Merlin, It's Harry Potter.'

'The Boy Who Lived.'

'Look, look at the scar!'

Sirius smiled tightly at the bartender and pulled Harry towards the back door. A woman in a long sleeved dress that came to mid calf, with brown knee high boots, long brown hair and pale skin blocked their path. She was quite beautiful, and looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. Her eyes were excited and bright, and she kept sneaking glances at Sirius

'Welcome back, Sirius Black,' She said formally, curbing her enthusiasm. Then she bent down to eye level with Harry, and stuck out her pale hand. 'Hello, Mr Potter,' She said softly. 'I'm Sapphire Rowan.'

'Hello, Miss Rowan,' Harry said politely.

The girl, Sapphire stood. 'Oh, just Sapphire, sweet heart.' She said this exuberantly, her eyes shining at Sirius.

Studying him, she seemed to change her mind about something. Harry knew what it was when she hugged him tightly, whispering, 'I knew it.'

Sirius hugged her back, the muscles in his back relaxing. 'Well,' he said loudly, clapping his hands together. 'We'd better go!'

'Bye boys,' Sapphire winked and disappeared into the crowd that now wanted to shake Harry Potter's hand.

Harry shook many hands; spoke politely to many people until Sirius started to shepherd him toward the back door.

Harry looked confused, but furrowed his brow and kept silent as they left through the back exit.

Sirius led him over to the solid brick wall and tapped it with his wand, third brick from the left. Harry gaped as the bricks melted away to form an archway, but again, said nothing.

Harry craned his neck in every direction as Sirius pulled him through the streets. After Harry had dragged himself away from the Quidditch store, he asked curiously, 'Who was the first woman?' He didn't mention anything about the whispers, or the other people talking to them, so Sirius took his lead from Harry, unsure of whether he should push him to talk about it.

'Sapphire Rose Rowan,' Sirius said. 'She's famous.'

'Why?' Harry said curiously. 'She dressed funny too. In those boots, and that purple dress.'

'She's faerie. The first one admitted to Hogwarts,' Sirius explained.

'A fairy?' Harry said, astonished. 'She didn't look like a fairy. Where were her wings? And she was far too big to be a fairy.'

'Not a fairy,' Sirius corrected gently. 'She's faerie. I'm not sure of the full details, she arrived at Hogwarts when I was in seventh year.'

'How did she know you?' Harry wasn't going to let the subject drop now.

'Um…' Sirius looked up. 'Oh, look, Harry! Ollivander's the wand shop!'

Harry rolled his eyes and followed Sirius inside. 'Why, hello, Mr. Black,' said a grey haired silver eyed man in a pair of old style robes.

'Mr. Ollivander,' Sirius greeted him with a nod. 'I'm looking for a wand, as my other was…well…'

Ollivander nodded and wandered down to the end of his narrow shop, disappearing into the gloom. Harry, before Sirius could stop him, followed him. 'What are all these boxes?' Sirius heard Harry ask cheerily.

'Wands, my dear boy,' Ollivander replied. 'You must be Harry Potter, such a pleasure.'

'You too,' Harry said, before coughing. 'You really need to dust down here, Mr Ollivander.'

'I do, my boy, I do.' Ollivander said, his silver eyes laughing. 'I never had the time.'

'I could help,' Harry volunteered.

Sirius shook his head, holding in laughter. 'Harry,' he called, his voice shaking. 'Come back here!'

There was a massive thud, a tornado of dust motes and muffled coughing.

Harry skipped out of the swirling dust motes, an apologetic expression on his innocent face. 'I didn't mean to knock the bookcase down,' he promised. 'It's just so dark and messy down there!'

Sirius looked shocked. 'No matter!' A muffled Ollivander called, and suddenly the shelves righted themselves and wands soared back into their spots on the shelves.

Ollivander rushed out and skid along the floor, very sprightly for a man old as himself. He was holding a wand box and Sirius held out his hand for the wand. 'Not for you, Mr Black,' Ollivander reproached. 'I'm just curious about something,' He said, eying Harry.

'No,' Sirius said firmly. 'He's not eleven.'

Ollivander looked at Sirius past his shaggy fringe. 'Many pureblood children are educated in at least basic wand work before they leave for Hogwarts, Mr Black. Surely you want young Mr Potter to have the same advantage.'

Sirius deliberated, the muscles in his jaw jumping. 'Oh, alright,' he said finally. 'Do it, then.'

'Mr Potter,' Ollivander called. He held out the wand in his gnarly old hand.

Harry looked mistrustful. 'It's alright, Harry,' Sirius assured him.

Harry came and took the wand, standing still and staring at it, as though it were an unexploded bomb.

'Wave it a little,' Ollivander instructed exuberantly.

Harry gave it a wave, and from his wand shot red and gold fireworks that lit up the old store.

Sirius' eyes were wide. He felt the power in the room after Harry gripped that wand. 'I knew it!' cried Ollivander, who was doing a bit of a jig on the spot. 'As a wand maker, this is an extraordinary breakthrough. Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple, Mr Black, shall you be purchasing this wand today?'

'Oh fine,' grumbled Sirius.

They spent a few more minutes in the shop while Sirius tried out plenty of wands before settling on an ash wand, dragon heartstring, thirteen inches.

He handed over a handful of Galleons to cover both wands, before resting a hand on Harry's shoulder, and steering him out of the store. Harry began to speak, 'Sirius, why did –'

'Hi boys!' cried the enthusiastic, bubbly voice of Sapphire Rose Rowan. 'Fancy seeing you here!'

'Hi Sapphire,' Sirius said. He didn't look unhappy to see her, but he wasn't exactly jumping for joy either. He's just nervous, Harry decided. I suppose it's been a long time since he's talked to a girl.

Sapphire Rose waved a hand at him in greeting and bent her face down to Harry's, grinning. 'Shall we get an ice cream then? Get Uncle Sirius to buy us a nice big tasty ice cream cone?'

Harry looked at Sirius, who nodded with a smile. 'Okay,' Harry said. He wasn't sure what it was, but he quite liked this girl. They headed over to Fortescue's ice cream parlour and Harry said curiously, 'Is Sirius really your Uncle?'

'Gosh, no,' Sapphire Rose said laughingly. 'Is he your's?'

'No,' Harry said. 'My Uncle Vernon wasn't very nice.'

'Neither was mine,' Sapphire Rose confided.

Sirius smiled at the easy way she dealt with children. They entered the ice cream shop and Harry's eyes bugged out. 'I've never had ice cream,' He confided in Sapphire Lily, feeling he ought to return the favour.

'What?' Sapphire Rose and Sirius stared in amazement at him.

Harry shrugged. 'Dudley always took mine,' Harry explained as if it all made perfect sense, 'when Auntie and Uncle bought me one.'

'Sounds like Cousin Dudley wasn't very nice either,' Sapphire Rose said to Harry.

'He wasn't,' Sirius said.

They paid for their massive ice creams and went outside to sit and eat their treats. Harry was quiet as he ate his, eyes wide and mouth smeared with chocolate.

'Have you seen Remus?' Sapphire Rose asked softly.

'No,' Sirius said. 'Dumbledore…Dumbledore wont tell me where he is. In fact, I shouldn't even be here today. We're supposed to be lying low.'

Sapphire Rose laughed, throwing her head back. 'Sirius Black, lying low? I thought Dumbledore was intelligent.' She teased.

'I can lie low!' Sirius protested.

'What are you doing here then?' Sapphire Rose challenged.

'I had to get out of the house,' he sighed in defeat.

'D'you know if anyone from the Order…?' Sapphire let the question hang in the air.

'There's a meeting at my place Monday week,' he told her, _sotto voce._

'Pointless,' Sapphire Rose said carelessly. 'Voldemort's gone.'

Sirius gave her a look and darted his eyes at Harry. This didn't go unnoticed, by either of them, Sapphire Rose or Harry.

'Well,' he said firmly. 'Dumbledore wants to talk to us about something. It's the first meeting in five years.'

'Okay,' She said, leaning back in her chair. 'You've persuaded me. At least you'll be there, right?' She asked rhetorically as she gave a long slow smouldering wink.

She kissed Harry quickly on the cheek, who smiled at her, and did the same thing to Sirius before skipping down the street yelling back, 'I'll see you guys Monday week!'

'She never did know the meaning of discretion,' Sirius muttered.

'What was she doing?' Harry imitated Sapphire Rose's wink.

'If she was never very good at her lessons,' Sirius told Harry, 'though she did master one thing: The Subtle Art of Flirtation. I, myself, am a master.' Sirius said modestly.

'Oh,' Harry squinted. 'I heard everything you said, you know. We'll be having a _long _talk when we get home.'

'I thought so,' Sirius sighed.

They strolled along the street, Harry's sticky hand in Sirius', not that he minded.

Harry stopped soon, and tugged Sirius over to the Quidditch store to ogle the broom I the window. Sirius laughed. 'Just like your dad,' he told Harry. 'One day, we'll get you a real broom and I'll teach you how to play Quidditch, though I was never as good as James.' Sirius paused. 'You're very like your dad, you know. I'll bet you've inherited his talent.'

Harry flushed at the unexpected praise. From the Dursley's, that would have been an insult. Every time he'd done something wrong they would yell, and always end with, 'Just like your _parents!' _and they didn't mean it in a good way.

Sirius entered Flourish and Blotts with Harry trailing along behind him like a very small pale shadow. 'I just have to pick up a few things,' but Sirius trailed off as he saw his godson already had a book in his small hands as he sat on a comfy armchair, he was only looking at the picture, but Sirius thought they needed more books around the house.

Sirius smiled affectionately and a young sales assistant smiled. 'Is he yours?' she asked, friendly.

'Yeah,' Sirius murmured automatically.

'He's gorgeous,' she told him. 'Now, how may I help you?'

Sirius told her what he needed and she hurried off to fetch it. Sirius went over to Harry. 'Would you like to get a few books, little man?'

'Yes, please,' Harry said, his eyes shining.

Sirius let Harry pick out as many as he wanted and Harry then carried the wobbling stack over to the counter. The woman scanned them through and smiled at Harry, 'You'll be busy.'

'Yes'm,' He said politely, before clutching Sirius' pant leg, his face turned away.

'Thank you, have a nice day,' the woman farewelled them at the door.

Back at Grimmauld Place Harry set down his books and a few toys they'd purchased and looked at Sirius steadily.

'Who's Voldemort?' Harry asked straightforwardly.

'A very bad man,' Sirius answered. Dumbledore had told Sirius not to tell him anything, until Harry's memories of that night and his parent's started to return.

'What's the Order?'

A group of people who have meetings together,'

'But what do you do?' Harry persisted, annoyed that he wasn't getting more out of him.

'Talk.' Sirius replied.

Harry sighed. 'What's happening Monday week?'

'The Order is coming here…for a talk.'

Harry sighed in frustration.

'Come on,' Sirius ruffled Harry's already unruly hair. 'Shall we read a book?'

'Okay,' Harry said, sitting on the armchair opposite Sirius.

Sirius would have though he'd come and sit on his knee, but he didn't want to push it. He began reading, and soon, like a wild animal sensing it's safe, Harry edged closer. He stood by the chair, perched on the edge and then Sirius patted his lap.

Harry clambered on to his knees and sat there, his back straight as he inspected the pictures. Soon, he had taken off his glasses and was resting against Sirius' chest, as if they'd been doing it all their life.

Josh is gone now, so I can say what I want. I hope you like this chapter, please leave a review on your way out!

**Much love,**

**Indigo**

**xoxo**


	4. Chp 3: The Order and Kisses

A/N: Hi everybody! I know, you want to murder me, because I haven't updated in awhile. Or forever actually.

**To Doni,**

**And, I'm quite annoyed with this actually. An anonymous reviewer called Doni: One thing to say to you, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. In fact, I think I'd prefer if you simply stopped reading altogether.**

**Thanks!**

**Okay, I can handle concrit, in fact, I welcome it with open arms, but just insulting the story? No thank you.**

**Ahem, anyway, read ahead, darlings!**

Sirius Black was finishing tidying up the kitchen when little Harry stumbled in, his hands fisted in his eyes, rubbing away sleep.

'Morning,' Sirius greeted him as Harry clambered on to a bench chair. Sirius went to the pantry and poured them some cereal, placing the patterned bowls down in front of Harry and one in front of him.

'Good morning,' Harry said, picking up his spoon and beginning to eat quickly.

'There are some people coming over today,' Sirius told him. 'They want to meet you.'

'Oh,' Harry said, his mouth full of Rice Bubbles.

'But then we're going to have a grown up talk and you can play in the living room with your train set, okay?'

'Okay,' Harry said. He didn't really want to listen to grown up talk anyway.

Sirius smiled down at him. 'Shall we get some toys down from you room and put them in the living room, so you're closer and I can hear you?'

'Okay,' Harry agreed, finally waking up properly. He skipped up the stairs up ahead of Sirius. 'I want my dragon book, the one with all the pictures, and the paper so I can draw, and my train set, and those little dragon toys that move,' he listed excitedly.

'Okay,' Sirius laughed. 'Though you know you'll have to clean them up afterwards.'

'I know,' Harry yelled back. He had now disappeared from sight, and there was banging coming from his room.

The doorbell clanged loudly, and Harry sounded okay, so Sirius yelled, 'I'll just go get the door.'

He didn't answer, so Sirius figured he was fine.

He opened the door, and there stood Sapphire Rose. 'Hi,' She exclaimed.

'Hi,' Sirius greeted her, feeling slightly disgruntled. It wasn't that he didn't like Sapphire Rose, that wasn't the problem at all. She was just always … _there._

She flew in the open door and embraced him, her smell pervaded the doorway and Sirius closed his eyes sniffing the apples and freesia remembering …He shook his head, patted her awkwardly on the back and stepped away. Far away.

Sapphire Rose grinned. 'Aw, sweet.' She walked into the hallway calling out, 'Harry! It's Sapphire Rose!'

There was a thundering and Harry appeared, jumping off the step, his arms full of toys.

'Wow!' Sapphire Rose exclaimed. 'That's a lot of toys.'

'Sirius got them for me,' Harry said proudly. 'I take good care of them and always clean them up when I'm done.'

Sapphire Rose smiled. The doorbell clanged again and she waved Sirius away to answer it, who smiled as he departed, hearing their conversation and sure Harry was in safe hands.

'This is my dragon toy,' Harry was saying to her.

'Wow,' She said, acting impressed. 'It's a Chinese Fireball, isn't it?'

'I think so…'

Sirius pulled open the door, a smile on his face. There stood Dumbledore. 'Hello,' Sirius said, perfectly friendly.

Dumbledore simply nodded and walked further in to the house, following the path Sapphire Rose had taken, into the living with Harry.

'Hi,' Sapphire Rose exclaimed. Sirius rounded the corner to see Sapphire embracing Dumbledore caringly.

'You hug people a lot,' Harry observed.

Sapphire jokingly embraced him, 'Yeah I do, don't I?'

The doorbell rang again and Sirius went off to answer it. Many people poured in to say hello to Harry and then they all disappeared into the kitchen.

A red haired woman ran in quickly, gasping. 'Hello,' She said breathlessly. 'Harry Potter, yes? Where's the meeting, honey?'

Harry pointed wordlessly. Later, as the voices in the kitchen grew louder, and less formal, Sapphire slipped out. 'Come on, Harry,' she greeted. 'Come into the kitchen. Sirius said you could.'

Harry grinned and followed her in. 'How old are you?' he asked as they walked toward Sirius.

Sirius, about to reprimand Harry, missed his chance as Sapphire laughed and answered, 'I'm twenty six, same age as Sirius over there.'

'Huh,' Harry said.

Sirius grinned. 'She looks a lot younger.' He patted his hair vainly. 'She aged better than me.'

'Ha, ha,' Sapphire said, and then people started to come up to Harry, introducing themselves.

'I'm Minerva McGonagall,' a stern woman with a large bun on top of her head said. 'I hope to see you at Hogwarts some day.'

'Okay,' Harry smiled slightly.

'Sirius,' the woman said sternly, with a slight glint in her eye.

'Professor,' he said, looking a bit like a scolded schoolboy.

Sapphire moved through the crowd then, a plate of food in her hands. 'Hi, Professor!' She greeted loudly. She looked around at everyone, and with her mouth full, said, 'get over there and get some grub. Molly made it.'

Harry saw the flustered red haired woman from before spoon out some sort of casserole generously on to everyone's plate.

'Sapphire,' Minerva inclined her head. She turned to Harry and confided, 'along with your father, these two are the most mischievous students I ever taught. Ever.'

Harry grinned, stowing that away in the back of his mind for future reference. 'Oh.' He said.

Sapphire laughed and protested. 'We weren't that bad!'

Minerva turned to Harry. 'I once opened the door to a cupboard outside the classroom, finding them kissing!'

Sirius shrugged slightly, as if to say, what can you do? 'I remember that,' he reminisced. 'We had to clean out every broom closet in the castle.'

'Oh, yeah!' Sapphire remembered. 'And we had that bottle of Lemon Fresh cleaning stuff, and we had that water fight?'

'Yeah, that was the one,' Sirius said. He leant down to Harry's level. 'Professor McGonagall was the strictest of them all. She never let you use your wand in detention.'

'I wasn't that bad,' Minerva protested. 'Oh, alright,' she conceded. 'But it wasn't like you ever listened to me anyway.'

'Ha, ha,' Sirius said. 'How come I was so amazing in Transfiguration then?'

'Natural talent,' Minerva said grudgingly as she moved to say hello to someone else. Before she did, she leant down and said to Harry, 'come visit Hogwarts with Sirius sometime, okay?'

'Okay,' Harry agreed amiably.

Sirius patted him on the back. 'Should we go get some food?' he asked genially.

'Alright then,' Harry said. They moved past a group of Order members towards Molly, who held out her ladle with a smile on her face. She was warm and matronly, with red hair and pink cheeks, looking very at home wearing an apron with oven mitts on her hand. 'Hi Harry,' she greeted him. 'I'm Molly Weasley. Thanks so much for your help before!'

'That's okay,' Harry said shyly, clinging to Sirius' pants leg.

'What?' Sirius asked.

Molly blushed slightly. 'I was running late, Ron, who's Harry's age, didn't want me to go and then I couldn't find my way in your huge house!' She laughed at herself.

Sirius grinned and Molly spooned some casserole on to their plates as she said, "I'm sure Ron wouldn't mind having a play date with you, Harry,' she said kindly. 'He and Ginny get a bit lonely as they can't keep up with my other children.'

'Okay,' Harry nodded politely.

'Its settled then,' Sirius rubbed his hands together and made noises of delight as he took the casserole from her and set it down at the table for Harry.

Sirius bent down. 'Will you be okay here?' he asked. 'I just want to talk to some people.'

'Okay,' Harry said again, tucking into his casserole with vigour. Sirius smiled gently and headed off to another group of people.

All of a sudden, Sapphire was sitting next to him, as was Dumbledore. 'Hi,' Harry said cheerfully. At least he knew these people. Sort of.

'Hey baby,' Sapphire said, so excitable, just like a little puppy, almost bouncing in her chair.

Dumbledore simply nodded.

Harry squinted his eyes and put his head on the side, like a dog listening for something. 'Did you and Sirius really use to kiss?' He asked confidingly.

'All the time,' Sapphire winked as Dumbledore erupted into chuckles.

'Eugh,' Harry shuddered.

'It wasn't at the time,' Sapphire laughed. 'Trust me!'

Harry shrugged and began eating again. Grown ups were strange.

**If you could all review on your way out, thanks, that would be great!**


	5. Author's Note

**Hi everyone!!!!**

**Alright, no chapters to any of my stories will be posted for a week, because I am doing Work Experience at a law firm in the city, working until 6 o'clock at night.**

**Sorry, please bear with me!!**

**I'll tell you all how it goes, much love,**

**Indigo**


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